FDES: Fiche de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire

FDES is a Fiche de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire (An Environmental and Sanitary Declaration Chart). Such charts are made with the purpose of informing the user of the environmental and sanitary impact of the product under analysis. FDES is only relevant to construction products and is calculated starting from the analysis of the entire life cycle of the product.

In order to calculate an FDES, it is necessary to refer to the European NF EN 15804 A1 regulation, which consists of the filling in of a EPD (Environmental Product Declaration), and also its domestic complement XP P 01-064/CN, which allows the integration of the EPD with sanitary aspects and adds the obligation to consider all phases of the life cycle of a product.

FDES is an environmental declaration, for which there are no thresholds to comply with, as is the case with certifications. For ceramic tiles, the analysis of the life cycle is carried out from the extraction of the raw materials to the end of the life cycle of the product: it is therefore necessary to take into consideration all aspects connected to the life of the product (places of extraction of the raw material, transports to the production site, production, transport to the installation site, installation techniques and maintenance of the product installed throughout its entire life).

Each FDES must necessarily contain:

• What makes up the product being studied (raw material, packaging, product used for its installation and cleaning, etc.)
• Functional unit and life cycle of the product
• List of the calculated indicators
• Information related to the comfort of use (hygrothermal, acoustic, visual and olfactory comfort etc.)

In order to compare two FDES, it is necessary to verify that the basic data is identical: for instance, the life cycle of the products being considered must be identical, that the same installation has been taken into consideration and so on…

The FDES of Novoceram products, calculated by a third party and additionally verified by a second third party, is available to refer to, for free, at the INIES database: this database gathers together all the FDES, highlighting those that have not undergone an auditing. As of July 2017, in order to increase the use of FDES among the users of building products, it will be compulsory for building products to undergo auditing.

FDES are mainly used by architects and site engineers to back-up their choices. They also make it easier to choose a material for the construction of a HQE building.